Design for mull of Galloway. Thoughts?

[DannyT]

Just running a design past you on here before we go to the architect.

We purchased our plot with concrete in the ground. Initially the plan were to rip it out and have a completely different design and orientation of the house.

That has changed. The plot has planning in proprietary so if we keep the existing foundation with a few additions, life will be a lot easier.

The aim of this house is to build a highly insulated, mvhr, triple glazed, heat pumped home with solar. 

This is not a grand design home, it’s not a mansion. I’m not wanting a house 3 x bigger than needed like you see on the tv that you can’t heat.
Im a bricklayer/builder by trade and see it all the time. 
Now the aim is to retire here. Single floor living. 2 beds, no kids. Cheap to run, cheap to maintain be mortgage free and have a fish room for my reef tank set up 😂

Build budget will be £200k.

Block and block construction with render

200mm full fill cavity

25mm IWI taped and sealed

35mm service void

plaster board

skim

 

A full on self build, once the architect has drawn it up and the new design hopefully passes planning and all regs etc, we will part ways and I’ll carry out all the work i legally can and get trades in like sparky etc.

 

house 140m2

garage 40m2

location, mull of Galloway. Nearly everything is slate roof and white walls.

 

My only concern is storage in the house, I have utility, part of plant room and garage. Fish room will be all my fish stuff out the way which is a problem in house in now.

Whats your thoughts? Sliding exterior wood shutters to break up the render and keep the sun out the living kitchen if required?

sliding doors in kitchen living face west towards field views.

Feed back welcome

 

[DannyT]

Current design that was passed off before we purchased the plot

[DannyT]

Current foundations in

[Alan Ambrose]

>>> My only concern is storage

 

Nice design. Looks like you have ample room for a big shed once you've filled up the loft space in the garage. 😀

 

Put up a picture of the view to make us jealous?

Edited October 1 by Alan Ambrose

[ProDave]

Surely if you have foundations in place, you want to stick to that footprint even if you change the interior?

[DannyT]

So that’s the thought now. We would have to dig a new foundation down  the length but use most of the rest. 
I have had a meeting on site months ago with the original architect who was present when the current foundations were dug and poured. They are about 800mm wide, bonus as I’m looking at 400mm thick walls.

 

Yellow is what we will use and red would be the new strip to go in.

I think I’m going to look at what adding a room on to the left foundation off the bedroom and maybe using that as a plant room and the one off utility as more in house storage.

 

22 minutes ago, ProDave said:

Surely if you have foundations in place, you want to stick to that footprint even if you change the interior?

[SteamyTea]

So how much insulation is in the existing foundation?

 

 

[DannyT]

Views from south to north. 
I have window facing south but not straight at the neighbour in cottage across the lane. Main windows facing west and a couple in bedroom north. 
utility etc is facing east onto the 2 neighbours boundary and protected from the hill behind.

[DannyT]

Nothing at the moment. Just the strip foundations in. I’ll be taking the brickwork up to dpc enough to get 300mm underneath the screed. 

3 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

So how much insulation is in the existing foundation?

 

 

 

[DannyT]

So I have had a little play around with adding the en-suite on to the side where the foundations are for what would of been a bedroom on the approved plans.

Not final but does free up space for a bigger shared bathroom, bigger utility, plant room and more cupboard space next to en-suite.

En-suite should also be big enough at 3m x 3m to have a bath and shower in.

window is just thrown in but could be a loo with a view?

 

All modelled to scale 👍

 

 

[ETC]

Why have a pitched main section and an elongated flatish section?

Edited October 1 by ETC

[DannyT]

27 minutes ago, ETC said:

Why have a pitched main section and an elongated flatfish section?

I want the roof at a 45 degree angle for solar panel generation in winter ( Makes a big difference on our 30 degree house at moment ) whilst keeping the ridge height down.

Do you think it looks off?

 

Inspiration from long house type homes like this

 

[Alan Ambrose]

Great views, very nice. Yes, I assumed you were designing in longhouse style.

[Dave Jones]

30 - 35 is optimal pitch for solar we were told ?

 

VERY optimistic expecting to build for less than £3km2 unless all your trades are free and your fees are minimal ?

 

If your not borrowing to build go for it, if you need finance the bank will require real world costings to lend against i.e. £3-5k m2. Just a heads up.

[ProDave]

3 minutes ago, Dave Jones said:

30 - 35 is optimal pitch for solar we were told ?

IF you want maximum yield.

 

But if self using and not getting paid for any export there is a big argument for a much steeper pitch, even near vertical, to get more production in winter at the expense of less than optimal production in summer, but you usually generate more than you can use in summer anyway.

[Dave Jones]

1 minute ago, ProDave said:

IF you want maximum yield.

 

But if self using and not getting paid for any export there is a big argument for a much steeper pitch, even near vertical, to get more production in winter at the expense of less than optimal production in summer, but you usually generate more than you can use in summer anyway.

 

got it so steeper means less yield ?

 

Could allways hang a bunch on some fencing ?

[Iceverge]

Very nice design. 

 

Be careful about those large Westerly facing windows though as you'll have lots of overheating on sunny evenings. I think a provision for external shades would be wise. 

 

I would consider getting rid of the roof lights in the western roof too.

 

Building a slightly wider cavity and putting more insulation in there will be cheaper than the 25mm IWI. My preference would be wet plaster internally.

 

Keep us posted. 

 

 

[Kelvin]

It’s pretty much like ours (which is a Heb Home) and we also have a 45° degree pitch although I decided not to fit the PV on the roof. 
 

How deep is the porch section? We made ours 4m deep as when we visited some other HH their standard depth seemed too small. 

[saveasteading]

31 minutes ago, Iceverge said:

you'll have lots of overheating on sunny evenings. 

Lovely thought.

I favour the simplicity of doors and windows for air, and curtains for glare.

[DannyT]

1 hour ago, Dave Jones said:

30 - 35 is optimal pitch for solar we were told ?

 

VERY optimistic expecting to build for less than £3km2 unless all your trades are free and your fees are minimal ?

 

If your not borrowing to build go for it, if you need finance the bank will require real world costings to lend against i.e. £3-5k m2. Just a heads up.

Summers not the problem for solar yield. It’s the winter months. 
you really see a drop off with a low sun on a 30 degree pitch. 
currently have a off grid set up. 7.8kw panels. 20kw battery storage and use as generates.

grid is only connected as back up. Nothing goes back to grid. That’s they way it will be on this house.

 

Cost for trades will be much lower than someone outside the trade. I am the trades. I do it everyday.

groundwork’s, bricklaying, roof, tiling, solar panel install, carpentry, kitchen and bathroom fitting, painting, plumbing. I do it all every day.

My biggest unknown are window costs.

scaffolding, electrician, Ashp and render will be the trades required. 
I hate plastering so will see about that.

 

No borrowing for build. Savings for build and house sale for retirement.

[DannyT]

1 hour ago, Iceverge said:

Very nice design. 

 

Be careful about those large Westerly facing windows though as you'll have lots of overheating on sunny evenings. I think a provision for external shades would be wise. 

 

I would consider getting rid of the roof lights in the western roof too.

 

Building a slightly wider cavity and putting more insulation in there will be cheaper than the 25mm IWI. My preference would be wet plaster internally.

 

Keep us posted. 

 

 

West roof lights will probably come out. Probably overkill with light.

Exterior sun shades will be the sliding external shutters of some sort over the big sliding doors and south facing windows.

My thought with the 25mm IWI is that it will be around the whole interior, taped and sealed to floor insulation, roof insulation, window reveals etc. As air tight as can be.

I’ll look into pros of your suggestion.

[DannyT]

41 minutes ago, Kelvin said:

It’s pretty much like ours (which is a Heb Home) and we also have a 45° degree pitch although I decided not to fit the PV on the roof. 
 

How deep is the porch section? We made ours 4m deep as when we visited some other HH their standard depth seemed too small. 

Internally the porch section will be 2m wide.

so that gives a 1.4m walkway in utility.

bathroom of 2m x 2.4m etc. 

Trying to keep on the current foundations

 

I like the 45 degree pitch of a long house type with the additional “extension” look.

rather than one big gable ended squareish bungalow.

 

feel free to share some photos if you don’t mind 👍🏻

 

[Kelvin]

There’s a thread of my build here: 

 

 

[Iceverge]

37 minutes ago, DannyT said:

My thought with the 25mm IWI is that it will be around the whole interior, taped and sealed to floor insulation, roof insulation, window reveals etc. As air tight as can be.

I’ll look into pros of your suggestion.

 

Ah ok. That could work. In any case it would be vastly superior to insulated plasterboard dot and dab. 

 

 

[ProDave]

1 hour ago, DannyT said:

scaffolding, electrician, Ashp and render will be the trades required. 

Buy a decent amount of Kwikstage or similar system scaffold and do it yourself.  It will easily sell at the end of your build, but I kept some of mine, enough to scaffold 1 wall of the house.